White with Envy
by SpiritLeTitan
Summary: Mello intends to outdo Near, but what is Near's opinion on this...? WARNING: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 26CHAPTER 57 AND BEYOND! Read at your own risk!


**WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN/READ THE SECOND ARC OF THE SERIES!!! IT CONTAINS SPOILERS GALORE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!**

White with Envy: A Death Note Oneshot

Staring. The one thing Near did that pissed Mello off the most. Next to being first in everything, that is. And right now, Near was watching Mello's every move as he paced back and forth in the sitting room, hiding from the other kids in a game of hide-and-seek, and it made him angry.

"Why the hell do you keep staring at me?!" Mello growled, glaring at the emotionless boy. Near shrugged.

"You make funny faces when you get angry," he explained. Mello grunted, and turned to leave the room—any other place was better to hide in than one shared with his rival.

"Well, cut it out, or I'll give you a funny face to look at. And it won't be mine," he threatened, and stormed out.

When the door to the sitting room slammed shut, Near sighed. Why must Mello be so blind?

A few days later, Near sat in one of the many hallways in Wammy's House, silently building a Lego fortress.

"Near, can I see you in my office?" Near looked up from his building to see Roger, the head of the orphanage. He looked uptight. 

"Sure," he answered, and followed the elderly man to his office. Once inside, Roger handed Near a box.

"It's a new puzzle," he explained. "You…you might need it."

A little confused about what Roger meant, Near took the puzzle. As he plopped onto the soft carpet and emptied the box, Roger left the room, only to return a few moments later. He sat down at his desk, remaining silent. Soon the only sound in the room was the repetitive 'clak' of Near's puzzle pieces.

A few more moments of silence passed, when it was broken by the sound of the office door opening hastily. Mello walked in, looking a little irritated.

"What did I do this time, Roger?" Mello asked with an angry tone, as if routine. He noticed Near from the corner of his eye, and lost his cool. "Did he turn me in for something?!"

"Silence, Mello," Roger nearly hissed. Mello promptly shut up. "I brought both of you here for a very important reason."

"Yeah, what's that?" Mello asked, scowling. This was going to be a waste of time, he could feel it. Roger paused for a while, and Mello grew impatient. Finally, before the hot-headed blond could explode, Roger spoke.

"L is dead," he explained bluntly, sadness in his voice. The two boys' hearts leapt in shock, and Mello let out an audible gasp. Near paused with his puzzle building, letting a piece linger in his hand. Again, silence filled the room.

"W-was it Kira?" Mello managed to ask after a few moments.

"We don't know for sure," Roger said sullenly. "But because his death was so sudden, he was unable to decide which of you would replace him."

Roger finally looked up at the two boys, only to meet Mello's shocked face and Near sitting off to the side, continuing his puzzle.

"Since it isn't my place to decide which of you will become the next L, you'll have to work together."

"That's agreeable," Near said softly.

"No way! You know me and Near don't get along!" Mello protested. He gave Near a sideways glance and growled. "Let Near take L's place. He'd be better at it anyway, it'd be like a puzzle to him."

As Mello wheeled around and walked passed Near, Near placed the final piece of his puzzle in place—it was entirely white, save the single 'L' in the upper left-hand corner. He sighed, and heard Mello stop just short of the door.

"I'm leaving, from here and the orphanage as well," Mello decided, and Roger stood from his desk.

"Mello—"

"I'm almost fifteen, Roger! I'll be fine!" he reassured him with a sharp tone. With that, he left the room.

Roger sat down, defeated, still watching the door. He heard Near dump his completed puzzle onto the floor, only to start putting it together again.

Several years had passed, and Near found himself in a funeral home one rainy afternoon, surrounded by faces from his childhood, from Wammy's House. Everyone was wearing black, including himself.

When the ceremony had ended, Near walked up to one of the two caskets as peered inside, his face showing little emotion. He took the hand of the dearly departed, and frowned grimly.

"Mello…" he told the body softly. He clutched the hand a little harder as he felt his heart swell with sorrow.

Near recounted the last time he saw Mello alive. It was during the Kira investigation, only a few months prior. He had come to Near's headquarters, the SPK, to retrieve the only photograph of himself, for his name had been found out by Kira, and he couldn't let him see his face. They had exchanged little words, and not very friendly ones at that. Near sighed heavily.

"You made everything into a competition," he began to tell Mello's body. "And you did this because you thought I was the smarter one, and you just had to beat me. But you didn't see…You didn't see that while I may have been smarter, you were always stronger, in will-power and physically, and I envied that. While you were trying to be me, I was trying to be you, and it was an endless cycle…" Near felt his cheeks become moist and wiped away a tear with his free hand.

"You were too blind to see that instead of rivals, we could have been friends. We could have joined forces, and you wouldn't have died… But you were so blind…"

Roger came up and put a comforting hand on Near's shoulder. After another moment of grieving, Near's saddened face returned to its emotionless state, and he released Mello's hand.

"Please, take me home, Roger…" he instructed, and Roger nodded, leading the boy from the casket.

_Fin._

**Spirit:** MELLOOOOOOOO!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIIIIIIIIE?! -weeps-  
**Near:** TT wuuuuuuuuuuut.  
**Spirit:** -snivels a bit, and gives Near a 'WTF?' glance- …Stuart?  
**Near:** No, I was just testing out my Stuart imitation. Pretty good, huh?  
**Stuart:** Hey! You aren't cool enough to imitate me!  
**Near:** I have better things to be doing. -leaves-  
**Mello:** ……  
**Spirit:** He can't say anything cuz he's DEAD!!! -continues weepage-  
**Stuart:** Mello was sooo cooool! -weeps as well-   
**Spirit:** -sniff- Well, this is one of my many to come tributes to Mello. So I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! -runs off to continue sobbing-


End file.
